


Closure

by Lihai



Category: Saint Seiya
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-11-22
Updated: 2011-11-22
Packaged: 2017-10-26 10:33:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 924
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/282041
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lihai/pseuds/Lihai
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Marin and Aiolia make sure they leave no business unattended. Takes place just before the Hades arc.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Closure

The first time Aiolia saw Marin with her mask off, he asked, "Is it all right?"

"What's all right?" She put down the mask on the table. The moon was a pale silvery ghost seeping through the closed window. In its unreliable light, her face became part of the shifting shadows.

"Me being here. Since Seiya is in the next room."

This evening Seiya had shown up on Marin's doorstep, Cloth box and all. He claimed that Athena had ordered him to be in Greece and check if anything funny was still happening to Julian Solo. He had also been asking about Marin's brother, pointing out his own search for his older sister. Marin's brisk refusal of the idea that they might be blood relations did not deter him in the least.

She took a step closer to the bed, not sitting down just yet. Aiolia silently savored the details of her face: the small unhealed scar below her right eye, her feathery eyebrows, the dimpled corners of her mouth. Those, in combination with her short, plain home dress, made her appear like a total stranger. And yet: her voice, the no-nonsense cadence of it.

"This is none of Seiya's business," she said.

"I don't suppose he sleeps like a log." Sometimes he makes tiny jokes like this, to offset her solemnity. "No Saint does."

"If we did, Sanctuary would be in deep trouble," she agreed. "But you're not here to discuss my disciple."

He reached for her hand and she grasped his in return. The night was a light, warm blanket upon their skin. Her palm was a web of calluses, the curves of her lips exquisite. In the previous war with Hades, the Crane Saint, a girl, was said to leave her face uncovered. He wished Marin would.

"Hades," he said aloud, remembering. "Another war with him is approaching."

"Sooner rather than later, I suppose? Since seals don't keep gods locked away for very long, even Athena's seals."

"How much do you know about the Holy War?"

At a gentle tug from him, she moved forward. Her fingers plunged into the hair at the back of his head and she murmured, "As much as anyone does. For instance, we've never confronted Zeus directly. And only one or two Gold Saints survive a war with Hades."

"The Leo Saint might be lucky this time around."

Her smile was thin and sad. These clearly visible expressions, the shadows playing across her features - they still mesmerized him. As if her entire mask had come unraveled at last.

"Yes, that might be. It's not always the strongest Saint that survived, is it? Fate is capricious like that."

"Is that why I'm here tonight?"

She lowered her head, touching her forehead to his. "That is not the way to think," she breathed. "These are not our last hours together, but moments to cherish."

"And for all we know, the coming war might end all wars," he added, relishing the way her fingers tightened in his hair.

*

Seiya showed no surprise at seeing Aiolia in the kitchen the next morning. "Hey," he said, plopping himself down on the nearest chair. "Coffee for breakfast? Tell me, is that really healthy?"

"Only when taken in reasonable doses." Aiolia poured for himself and Seiya sneezed disrespectfully at the aroma. "Here's some fried rice. I was told you Japanese folks are partial to it."

Seiya's looks indicated that he preferred not to have his fried rice with coffee, but was too polite to say it aloud. He accepted the plate from Aiolia, nostrils flaring, and began to eat. Aiolia sat down with his mug. His brother had been no coffee lover either, believing in plenty of physical exercises instead.

"Where's Marin-san?" Seiya asked between spoonfuls. "She's always up before I am."

"Your teacher has some business to take care of."

"Huh." The news made Seiya seem even less enthusiastic to savor Aiolia's cooking. "I'm leaving again on midday, do you think she'd already be back before then?"

Aiolia sipped at his brew. "I don't think so. She has a lot of things to do."

*

But Marin was waiting for him in the Leo Temple, masked and armored, once more the proper Saint. She wanted to say her goodbye in the place that would remind him most about his duties. Oddly, this calmed him.

"You may never meet Seiya again," he said.

"He's a big boy, and for the last time, let's just talk about us."

He agreed, and she raised her mask for a quick kiss, then a longer one. They were warriors seeing each other off to battle, as they should be. The problem was that the image now made him increasingly restless.

Together they walked back to the entrance, there to stand in the sunshine. "After Athena's Saints die," she said, "I wonder if we'll be welcome in Hades's realm."

"Without our Cloths and Cosmo, no doubt."

She put one hand on her hip, a teacher puzzling over a difficult problem. "Maybe we'd go somewhere else, far away from these jealous gods. Like the last Athena and Pegasus Saint. They didn't end up in Elysion, did they?"

The question hung unspoken in the air between them. "We're still Saints, both of us," he replied. "Among the stars or wherever - I might still be able to find you."

This seemed to please her. "Then I'll see you there." She went down the steps from the Leo Temple, and he thought he had never missed the sight of someone's back so immensely.


End file.
